Greetings, readers:
A few years ago, a group of friends and I drove from Nashville to Columbia, Tennessee, to kayak on the Duck River.
It was a beautiful summer day and the line to rent the gear was long. It was a couple of years after COVID emerged and not long after people started feeling more comfortable congregating in close quarters. Outdoor socializing was an elixir after so many months of isolation.
That day was memorable for the camaraderie, but also for the joy we received in traversing this waterway, considered one of the most biodiverse rivers in the world.
But the Duck River is in trouble, so says John Guider, a photographer and adventurer who has traveled 14,000 miles of American rivers over the last two decades.
Recently, he embarked on a 28-day excursion on the Duck River and what he saw hurt his heart. This river is suffering the effects of pollution, overconsumption, saturation and invasive species.
“For many years, people have used the Duck for drinking water, for bathing and cooking and watering our lawns and cooling our factories and the list goes on,” Guider wrote in a guest opinion column .